Often it is desirable to provide assistance remotely to an individual or group or to provide some type of instruction to a remotely located individual or group. Currently this is possible through the activation of a camera on a mobile phone or other portable device operated by the individual or one of the group. Images captured by the camera of a mobile phone or other device can be transmitted to an assistant, allowing the assistant to remotely view the surroundings of an individual or group or objects therein. However, with current technology, remote assistance is limited and often entails only providing verbal instruction or assistance via the voice communication means of a mobile telephone or other portable device. There is no currently available means for a remote assistant to easily provide diagrams, marked up pictures, or other visual data via the screen of the mobile phone in real-time or near real-time.
Therefore, what is needed are methods, systems, and apparatuses that allow a remote assistant to offer assistance by interacting directly with the environment of the individual or the group requesting assistance. This interaction should also be controllable by the remote assistant. It would be further beneficial if the remote assistant was able to obtain a real-time or near real-time view or status of the device operated by the individual/group requesting assistance and their surroundings and objects therein and for the remote assistant to be capable of providing graphical markups or to share images in order to facilitate the assistance session.